Voluntariness, Decision and Responsibility

Authors

  • Christof Rapp Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.12705

Keywords:

voluntariness, unvoluntariness, decision, action, responsability

Abstract

The concepts of voluntariness and decision which are dealt with in the “Nicomaquean Ethics” of Aristotle are a source to consider under what conditions responsibility of a certain action can be attributed to a person. As a first condition for such attribution, the action cannot be made involuntarily (akô), because in such a case the person acts through ignorance or coercion. Thus it is evident that responsibility is appropriate only in the case of a voluntary action (hekôn), where a decision was made between two or more options. Therefore in this study there is a valuation and a determination of the concept of “deci- sion”, that is, a deliberation that leads to a determination or to a judgment (Krisis), in which only what is in one`s power to realize is deliberated upon. So the decision, given under a voluntary consideration, bases action and action becomes a responsibility of the person that has chosen.

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Author Biography

Christof Rapp, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Institut für Philosophie
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Berlin, Alemania
RappC@philosophie.hu-berlin.de

References

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SCHOPENHAUER, A. Die beiden Grundplobleme der Ethik, en: Sämtliche Werke (SW), Vol. 3. Ed. de Wolfgang Frhr. von Löhney- sen. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M., 1994.

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Published

2008-08-26

How to Cite

Rapp, C. (2008). Voluntariness, Decision and Responsibility. Estudios De Filosofía, (38), 221–243. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.12705

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Section

Reflection article

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